Innkeepers and small business owners can no longer rely on “JUST” their Website and/or Traditional Online Marketing Tasks to deliver the same ROI (Return on Investment) results at the same financial level (Revenue) that these Foundational Steps were capable of producing in the past.

These Foundational Steps must still be in place. However, if you want to succeed in today’s online world, you must develop,create, monitor, and manage your own individualized Strategic Marketing Plan on a monthly basis.

The plan must successfully implement the items listed on the info-graphic roadmap below, and also stay current with any new items that will occur in the future. Without such a plan, you will not be able to maintain and grow your revenue as our online landscape continues to change on a daily basis.

If you’re not keeping up, or don’t even know where to start, we highly encourage you to join our Advantage Plan Program ASAP. Acorn Internet Services is the industry leader when it comes to understanding what’s affecting our Innkeepers’ bottom line. With access to our expertise and guidance, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to stay current.

When you subscribe to one of Acorn’s Advantage Plan programs, you are paying to receive and have access to our continually updated Expertise and Knowledge so you can manage and grow your business without making costly and detrimental mistakes.

This information is provided in a variety ways:

Advantage Plan Email Alerts

Advantage Plan Webinars

Advantage Plan Private Blog Posts

Advantage Plan Survey Check-List and Step-by-Step instructions to keep current

Advantage Plan clients are eligible for special offerings such as yearly TripAdvisor Business Listing Reviews

You will also have access to Client Dashboard including:

Calendar with all Advantage Plan Communications Past and Present

Profile of your specific business so we can communicate specific issues as they occur

Private Access to Blog Posts with Step-by-Step Instructions on topics that Innkeepers need to address

In order to succeed in today’s marketplace, you MUST establish an ongoing strategy in order to maintain / grow your business. Innkeepers typically cannot create a plan such as this without expert guidance and direction. Hit and miss mistakes are costly. With our Advantage Plan Program, you will know what you need to do and how you need to do it.

Strategic Advantage Action Items currently include, but are not limited to the following:

Web Design Maintenance

As per Google’s Mobile-First Algorithm, a separate mobile website is no longer acceptable. Your website must have a Responsive Design so that it automatically responds or adjusts to the screen on which its viewed (phone, tablet or desktop). Your web design must also be quick to load and easy for your guests to use. All of our designs are built following these guidelines. Although these items are coded as part of your design, the additional work required to implement and maintain each of them is imperative to maintaining or growing your revenue.

Using Google Local to Grow Direct Traffic

2019 has shown a shift in how visitors find your website on Google. Using specialized UTM tracking for your Google My Business (GMB) website link, we have determined that 50% (+ or -) of your total Google traffic is not finding you through Google organic, but through Google Local. As a result, you must be taking steps to continually monitor your Google My Business listing.

Secure Server Verified

Having your website stored on a secure server (HTTPS://) is vital. If your site is not on a secure server (HTTP://), then Google’s Chrome browser will alert visitors to your site to beware that the site is unsecure. Once your website has been moved to HTTPS://, you will need to make sure all inbound links to the site have been updated to HTTPS://, such as Trip Advisor, Directories, etc.

Traditional Online Marketing Tasks

Just having a website is no longer enough to sustain or grow your business. Unless you are the only property in town, you MUST be completing additional marketing tasks, such as Blogging, Social Media and Newsletters for engagement with your existing and future guests.

All of the marketing techniques presented as part of our Advantage Plan Services are tried and true options. There are additional marketing options that some innkeepers are using and testing for validity. These include, but are not limited to Prospecting and Retargeting Products such as Cart Stack, Triptease, The Hotels Network and Loyalty Programs.

Review Management

Forbes has indicated that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. It is critical that Innkeepers constantly monitor and manage what is being said about them online.

Press and Print

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the “Online” marketing available for your business, that it’s easy to forget about the power of the Press and your Print materials. One well-published Press article can increase traffic to your site (and bookings) tremendously. Innkeepers should be aware of and capitalize on these opportunities as frequently as possible.

OTA and Revenue Management

In today’s competitive arena, it’s important to manage your room pricing. If you do not use an OTA, TripAdvisor’s TripConnect, or Google Hotel Ads provider, your pricing will NOT be available in Google My Business Local Business Listings, Google Travel, or TripAdvisor results. Although there are other ways to combat the lack of visibility, the first step is to realize that OTAs control much of the market today. Other players, such as the search engines, TripAdvisor, etc., all play off of paid availability. If you don’t participate, then you’re not visible in these places. If you’re in a competitive area, you must understand how this will impact your business, for better or for worse. Revenue/Yield Management is just another term for managing your Direct and/or OTA pricing so you’re not too high or too low, providing you with the best opportunity to sell your rooms. Keep in mind that companies such as Trivago prey on properties that don’t manage their Rate Parity properly.

Legal

In 2018 alone, new legal requirements have moved from “potential” to “real” with topics such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Innkeepers across the U.S. are experiencing lawsuits and other legal actions because they have not taken the precautionary steps to make sure their websites and Third Party systems comply with these rules and regulations for GDPR and ADA.

Is your property for Sale?

Selling your property is no simple task. There are many factors to consider and decisions to make. For starters, how will you list the property: by owner, with a Realtor, a broker or a consultant? Using our Level 3 or 4 Advantage Plan program will help you develop a specific strategy to increase your revenue in advance of your sale.

DIY Education for the Do-It-Yourselfer (Advantage Plan Level 2)

Knowledge is Power! Education is the Key to that Power!

In today’s economy, small business owners MUST become more knowledgeable about their Internet presence to be able to formulate a strategic Internet marketing plan. Without that knowledge, marketing dollars are easily applied to programs that provide little or no benefit for bringing in customers.

Acorn Internet Services is committed to the education of our customer base. With the right information about the Internet marketing product services available, even the newest of Internet rookies can and will be able to grasp basic Internet concepts — learning the difference between organic/local placement and Pay Per Click placement, why a Web site tracker is so very important to your business, and what meta tags are, to name just a few.

With this basic knowledge comes the power to make the right decisions for your business and, in time, see your business thrive on the Internet superhighway.

Advantage Plan Level 2 Member Benefits: Acorn University

Printable Yearly Project Planner to keep you on track of your Ongoing Marketing

E-Mail Invitations to bi-monthly Acorn University and Club 60 Live Webinars

E-Mail Invitations to SEO Update Webinar

Access to Video Library of all past classes in Acorn University Curriculum and Club 60

E-Mail Invitations to monthly Q&A Webinars for Live Help and Support

Access to the Acorn U / Club 60 Q&A Forum / Chat Room

You will become a part of a group of Exclusive Innkeeper and Property owners who work together to support each other and share their knowledge.

If you decide to sell your inn, you will be listed on Acorn’s exclusive Inns for Sale page

Here at Acorn Internet Services, there is no such thing as a dumb question. We will work with you until you are able to grasp each important concept and use that knowledge to make the marketing decisions that will best benefit your business.

Bottom Line? The educated Innkeeper is equipped with the skills to INCREASE their REVENUE for less cost than the Innkeeper who unaware of their Basic Internet Marketing Environment.

Included from Advantage Plan Level 1

When you subscribe to one of Acorn’s Advantage Plan programs, you are paying to receive and have access to our continually updated Expertise and Knowledge so you can manage and grow your business without making costly and detrimental mistakes.

This information is provided in a variety ways:

Advantage Plan Email Alerts

Advantage Plan Webinars

Advantage Plan Private Blog Posts

Advantage Plan Survey Check-List and Step-by-Step instructions to keep current

Advantage Plan clients are eligible for special offerings such as yearly TripAdvisor Business Listing Reviews

You will also have access to Client Dashboard including:

Calendar with all Advantage Plan Communications Past and Present

Profile of your specific business so we can communicate specific issues as they occur

Private Access to Blog Posts with Step-by-Step Instructions on topics that Innkeepers need to address

In order to succeed in today’s marketplace, you MUST establish an ongoing strategy in order to maintain / grow your business. Innkeepers typically cannot create a plan such as this without expert guidance and direction. Hit and miss mistakes are costly. With our Advantage Plan Program, you will know what you need to do and how you need to do it.

Strategic Advantage Action Items currently include, but are not limited to the following:

Web Design Maintenance

As per Google’s Mobile-First Algorithm, a separate mobile website is no longer acceptable. Your website must have a Responsive Design so that it automatically responds or adjusts to the screen on which its viewed (phone, tablet or desktop). Your web design must also be quick to load and easy for your guests to use. All of our designs are built following these guidelines. Although these items are coded as part of your design, the additional work required to implement and maintain each of them is imperative to maintaining or growing your revenue.

Using Google Local to Grow Direct Traffic

2019 has shown a shift in how visitors find your website on Google. Using specialized UTM tracking for your Google My Business (GMB) website link, we have determined that 50% (+ or -) of your total Google traffic is not finding you through Google organic, but through Google Local. As a result, you must be taking steps to continually monitor your Google My Business listing.

Secure Server Verified

Having your website stored on a secure server (HTTPS://) is vital. If your site is not on a secure server (HTTP://), then Google’s Chrome browser will alert visitors to your site to beware that the site is unsecure. Once your website has been moved to HTTPS://, you will need to make sure all inbound links to the site have been updated to HTTPS://, such as Trip Advisor, Directories, etc.

Traditional Online Marketing Tasks

Just having a website is no longer enough to sustain or grow your business. Unless you are the only property in town, you MUST be completing additional marketing tasks, such as Blogging, Social Media and Newsletters for engagement with your existing and future guests.

All of the marketing techniques presented as part of our Advantage Plan Services are tried and true options. There are additional marketing options that some innkeepers are using and testing for validity. These include, but are not limited to Prospecting and Retargeting Products such as Cart Stack, Triptease, The Hotels Network and Loyalty Programs.

Review Management

Forbes has indicated that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. It is critical that Innkeepers constantly monitor and manage what is being said about them online.

Press and Print

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the “Online” marketing available for your business, that it’s easy to forget about the power of the Press and your Print materials. One well-published Press article can increase traffic to your site (and bookings) tremendously. Innkeepers should be aware of and capitalize on these opportunities as frequently as possible.

OTA and Revenue Management

In today’s competitive arena, it’s important to manage your room pricing. If you do not use an OTA, TripAdvisor’s TripConnect, or Google Hotel Ads provider, your pricing will NOT be available in Google My Business Local Business Listings, Google Travel, or TripAdvisor results. Although there are other ways to combat the lack of visibility, the first step is to realize that OTAs control much of the market today. Other players, such as the search engines, TripAdvisor, etc., all play off of paid availability. If you don’t participate, then you’re not visible in these places. If you’re in a competitive area, you must understand how this will impact your business, for better or for worse. Revenue/Yield Management is just another term for managing your Direct and/or OTA pricing so you’re not too high or too low, providing you with the best opportunity to sell your rooms. Keep in mind that companies such as Trivago prey on properties that don’t manage their Rate Parity properly.

Legal

In 2018 alone, new legal requirements have moved from “potential” to “real” with topics such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Innkeepers across the U.S. are experiencing lawsuits and other legal actions because they have not taken the precautionary steps to make sure their websites and Third Party systems comply with these rules and regulations for GDPR and ADA.

Is your property for Sale?

Selling your property is no simple task. There are many factors to consider and decisions to make. For starters, how will you list the property: by owner, with a Realtor, a broker or a consultant? Using our Level 3 or 4 Advantage Plan program will help you develop a specific strategy to increase your revenue in advance of your sale.

Monthly Monitoring and One-on-One Meetings (Advantage Plan Level 3)

Make Sense of your Revenue with our Hands On Strategic Planning and Monitoring Services

To aid in Web statistics analysis, you (as an Acorn customer) have access to lots of valuable information about the visitors to your Web site through Google Analytics as well as your own review of your organic and local Google position in relation to your primary keyword phrases. As a busy innkeeper, do you have time to look at all of this on a monthly basis? Interpret them? Formulate an Internet Marketing plan? And keep all this information organized from one month to the next? If you are having trouble answering “yes” to any of these questions, Acorn Internet Service’s Advantage Plan Level 3 can help you.

Acorn Internet Services provides a very special, hands-on approach to help Innkeepers monitor their online presence and placement. It is not simply a generated report. Anyone can set up Google Analytics to simply email you a monthly report. This service is a comprehensive statistical and search engine placement reporting program where you work with your assigned Project Manager who reviews, produces and transmits electronically a customized report including comprehensive recommendations and marketing trends. This goes beyond a simple report. Your Project Manager works with you on a monthly basis, providing and monitoring your most critical action items specific to your business.

You already know just how dynamic this business of Internet marketing can be – the rules change frequently. By tracking your stats and organic placement every month, we can watch for shifts in how search engines view your Web site and ensure that your visibility, traffic and revenue remains strong.

Monthly Digital Report

This report will give you an overview of the health of your website and online presence and total revenue that has come in during the past month. A monthly report consists of a Custom Performance Console and additional Revenue Tracker (The Revenue Tracker is filled out monthly with the last click and assisted conversions entered. Once the expenses for web presence are included and monthly OTA bookings are added, the Revenue Tracker provides an excellent depiction of bookings/revenue from your website.) The Custom Performance Console includes:

Recommendations, Suggestions and Tips
We share what’s NEW in the world of Marketing and how it relates to you and your specific business.

Executive SummaryThis is where you will find your MarketWatch details consolidated “At-a-glance”.

Revenue ReportingSee how each of your referral sources are performing on a monthly and year-over-year basis.

Campaign Reporting
Evaluate the effectiveness of your various campaigns from paid ads to newsletters.

Website Reporting
Understand how you are being found online, which pages of your website are making the biggest impact, and how far your blogs are reaching.

Google Organic vs. Google My Business (GMB) Breakdown
See the split between your Google Organic and GMB traffic and revenue.

Reviews, Social Media, Blog, & Newsletter Monitoring
We help you keep track of the consistency of your reviews, posts, and other marketing efforts.

Online Health
This section is designed to make sure Innkeepers have done and completed the “one-time” tasks required to maintain placement in today’s online world.

Monthly Strategy Call

The monthly strategy call with your project manager is where you will be given actionable items and tools to increase your revenue. This is a personalized call, designed to develop a strategy for your business. Typically, during the strategy call, your project manager will briefly go over the current month’s Digital Report and make you aware of any open action items that need to be tended to. The bulk of the call will be spent talking about the current marketing efforts that you are employing and will check the effectiveness of those tactics by reviewing data in Google analytics to see how much revenue has been generated and how many sessions have come to your website as a result of these efforts. Those statistics can help us determine how well each marketing effort is working and allow us to make suggestions for any adjustments that might help to increase their effectiveness. During this call, your project manager will also talk with you about areas for future growth. These might involve additional items such as OTA strategy, yield management, targeted newsletters, specials and packages, pay per click campaigns, and much more. As you initiate new marketing efforts, your project manager will review their effectiveness and give you suggestions for adjustments to help increase their effectiveness. This call will also have time for questions from you. When you schedule the meeting, you can let your project manager know of any topics you want to address, help you might need in any area, or questions that you have. This call is where information moves from numbers and data to actionable items that can impact your business.

One time Start-up Fee to begin Advantage Plan Level 3 $350

Included from Advantage Plan Level 2

Knowledge is Power! Education is the Key to that Power!

In today’s economy, small business owners MUST become more knowledgeable about their Internet presence to be able to formulate a strategic Internet marketing plan. Without that knowledge, marketing dollars are easily applied to programs that provide little or no benefit for bringing in customers.

Acorn Internet Services is committed to the education of our customer base. With the right information about the Internet marketing product services available, even the newest of Internet rookies can and will be able to grasp basic Internet concepts — learning the difference between organic/local placement and Pay Per Click placement, why a Web site tracker is so very important to your business, and what meta tags are, to name just a few.

With this basic knowledge comes the power to make the right decisions for your business and, in time, see your business thrive on the Internet superhighway.

Advantage Plan Level 2 Member Benefits: Acorn University

Printable Yearly Project Planner to keep you on track of your Ongoing Marketing

E-Mail Invitations to bi-monthly Acorn University and Club 60 Live Webinars

E-Mail Invitations to SEO Update Webinar

Access to Video Library of all past classes in Acorn University Curriculum and Club 60

E-Mail Invitations to monthly Q&A Webinars for Live Help and Support

Access to the Acorn U / Club 60 Q&A Forum / Chat Room

You will become a part of a group of Exclusive Innkeeper and Property owners who work together to support each other and share their knowledge.

If you decide to sell your inn, you will be listed on Acorn’s exclusive Inns for Sale page

Here at Acorn Internet Services, there is no such thing as a dumb question. We will work with you until you are able to grasp each important concept and use that knowledge to make the marketing decisions that will best benefit your business.

Bottom Line? The educated Innkeeper is equipped with the skills to INCREASE their REVENUE for less cost than the Innkeeper who unaware of their Basic Internet Marketing Environment.

Included from Advantage Plan Level 1

When you subscribe to one of Acorn’s Advantage Plan programs, you are paying to receive and have access to our continually updated Expertise and Knowledge so you can manage and grow your business without making costly and detrimental mistakes.

This information is provided in a variety ways:

Advantage Plan Email Alerts

Advantage Plan Webinars

Advantage Plan Private Blog Posts

Advantage Plan Survey Check-List and Step-by-Step instructions to keep current

Advantage Plan clients are eligible for special offerings such as yearly TripAdvisor Business Listing Reviews

You will also have access to Client Dashboard including:

Calendar with all Advantage Plan Communications Past and Present

Profile of your specific business so we can communicate specific issues as they occur

Private Access to Blog Posts with Step-by-Step Instructions on topics that Innkeepers need to address

In order to succeed in today’s marketplace, you MUST establish an ongoing strategy in order to maintain / grow your business. Innkeepers typically cannot create a plan such as this without expert guidance and direction. Hit and miss mistakes are costly. With our Advantage Plan Program, you will know what you need to do and how you need to do it.

Strategic Advantage Action Items currently include, but are not limited to the following:

Web Design Maintenance

As per Google’s Mobile-First Algorithm, a separate mobile website is no longer acceptable. Your website must have a Responsive Design so that it automatically responds or adjusts to the screen on which its viewed (phone, tablet or desktop). Your web design must also be quick to load and easy for your guests to use. All of our designs are built following these guidelines. Although these items are coded as part of your design, the additional work required to implement and maintain each of them is imperative to maintaining or growing your revenue.

Using Google Local to Grow Direct Traffic

2019 has shown a shift in how visitors find your website on Google. Using specialized UTM tracking for your Google My Business (GMB) website link, we have determined that 50% (+ or -) of your total Google traffic is not finding you through Google organic, but through Google Local. As a result, you must be taking steps to continually monitor your Google My Business listing.

Secure Server Verified

Having your website stored on a secure server (HTTPS://) is vital. If your site is not on a secure server (HTTP://), then Google’s Chrome browser will alert visitors to your site to beware that the site is unsecure. Once your website has been moved to HTTPS://, you will need to make sure all inbound links to the site have been updated to HTTPS://, such as Trip Advisor, Directories, etc.

Traditional Online Marketing Tasks

Just having a website is no longer enough to sustain or grow your business. Unless you are the only property in town, you MUST be completing additional marketing tasks, such as Blogging, Social Media and Newsletters for engagement with your existing and future guests.

All of the marketing techniques presented as part of our Advantage Plan Services are tried and true options. There are additional marketing options that some innkeepers are using and testing for validity. These include, but are not limited to Prospecting and Retargeting Products such as Cart Stack, Triptease, The Hotels Network and Loyalty Programs.

Review Management

Forbes has indicated that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. It is critical that Innkeepers constantly monitor and manage what is being said about them online.

Press and Print

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the “Online” marketing available for your business, that it’s easy to forget about the power of the Press and your Print materials. One well-published Press article can increase traffic to your site (and bookings) tremendously. Innkeepers should be aware of and capitalize on these opportunities as frequently as possible.

OTA and Revenue Management

In today’s competitive arena, it’s important to manage your room pricing. If you do not use an OTA, TripAdvisor’s TripConnect, or Google Hotel Ads provider, your pricing will NOT be available in Google My Business Local Business Listings, Google Travel, or TripAdvisor results. Although there are other ways to combat the lack of visibility, the first step is to realize that OTAs control much of the market today. Other players, such as the search engines, TripAdvisor, etc., all play off of paid availability. If you don’t participate, then you’re not visible in these places. If you’re in a competitive area, you must understand how this will impact your business, for better or for worse. Revenue/Yield Management is just another term for managing your Direct and/or OTA pricing so you’re not too high or too low, providing you with the best opportunity to sell your rooms. Keep in mind that companies such as Trivago prey on properties that don’t manage their Rate Parity properly.

Legal

In 2018 alone, new legal requirements have moved from “potential” to “real” with topics such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Innkeepers across the U.S. are experiencing lawsuits and other legal actions because they have not taken the precautionary steps to make sure their websites and Third Party systems comply with these rules and regulations for GDPR and ADA.

Is your property for Sale?

Selling your property is no simple task. There are many factors to consider and decisions to make. For starters, how will you list the property: by owner, with a Realtor, a broker or a consultant? Using our Level 3 or 4 Advantage Plan program will help you develop a specific strategy to increase your revenue in advance of your sale.

Ultimate Marketing Bundle (Advantage Plan Level 4)

What’s Included the Advantage Plan Level 4 Option? Level 4 is the culmination of all the offerings in Level 1, 2 and 3 and also includes ongoing Marketing Services bundled for Innkeepers who do not wish to choose to build their own Traditional Marketing program vai the Ala Carte Marketing options separately.

Monthly Ongoing Marketing Services

1 Email Blast

2 Blog Posts

4 Social Media Posts (in addition to the Blog Posts to Social Media)

2 Pinterest Sessions

One time Start-up Fee to begin Advantage Plan Level 4 $935

Included from Advantage Plan Level 3

Make Sense of your Revenue with our Hands On Strategic Planning and Monitoring Services

To aid in Web statistics analysis, you (as an Acorn customer) have access to lots of valuable information about the visitors to your Web site through Google Analytics as well as your own review of your organic and local Google position in relation to your primary keyword phrases. As a busy innkeeper, do you have time to look at all of this on a monthly basis? Interpret them? Formulate an Internet Marketing plan? And keep all this information organized from one month to the next? If you are having trouble answering “yes” to any of these questions, Acorn Internet Service’s Advantage Plan Level 3 can help you.

Acorn Internet Services provides a very special, hands-on approach to help Innkeepers monitor their online presence and placement. It is not simply a generated report. Anyone can set up Google Analytics to simply email you a monthly report. This service is a comprehensive statistical and search engine placement reporting program where you work with your assigned Project Manager who reviews, produces and transmits electronically a customized report including comprehensive recommendations and marketing trends. This goes beyond a simple report. Your Project Manager works with you on a monthly basis, providing and monitoring your most critical action items specific to your business.

You already know just how dynamic this business of Internet marketing can be – the rules change frequently. By tracking your stats and organic placement every month, we can watch for shifts in how search engines view your Web site and ensure that your visibility, traffic and revenue remains strong.

Monthly Digital Report

This report will give you an overview of the health of your website and online presence and total revenue that has come in during the past month. A monthly report consists of a Custom Performance Console and additional Revenue Tracker (The Revenue Tracker is filled out monthly with the last click and assisted conversions entered. Once the expenses for web presence are included and monthly OTA bookings are added, the Revenue Tracker provides an excellent depiction of bookings/revenue from your website.) The Custom Performance Console includes:

Recommendations, Suggestions and Tips
We share what’s NEW in the world of Marketing and how it relates to you and your specific business.

Executive SummaryThis is where you will find your MarketWatch details consolidated “At-a-glance”.

Revenue ReportingSee how each of your referral sources are performing on a monthly and year-over-year basis.

Campaign Reporting
Evaluate the effectiveness of your various campaigns from paid ads to newsletters.

Website Reporting
Understand how you are being found online, which pages of your website are making the biggest impact, and how far your blogs are reaching.

Google Organic vs. Google My Business (GMB) Breakdown
See the split between your Google Organic and GMB traffic and revenue.

Reviews, Social Media, Blog, & Newsletter Monitoring
We help you keep track of the consistency of your reviews, posts, and other marketing efforts.

Online Health
This section is designed to make sure Innkeepers have done and completed the “one-time” tasks required to maintain placement in today’s online world.

Monthly Strategy Call

The monthly strategy call with your project manager is where you will be given actionable items and tools to increase your revenue. This is a personalized call, designed to develop a strategy for your business. Typically, during the strategy call, your project manager will briefly go over the current month’s Digital Report and make you aware of any open action items that need to be tended to. The bulk of the call will be spent talking about the current marketing efforts that you are employing and will check the effectiveness of those tactics by reviewing data in Google analytics to see how much revenue has been generated and how many sessions have come to your website as a result of these efforts. Those statistics can help us determine how well each marketing effort is working and allow us to make suggestions for any adjustments that might help to increase their effectiveness. During this call, your project manager will also talk with you about areas for future growth. These might involve additional items such as OTA strategy, yield management, targeted newsletters, specials and packages, pay per click campaigns, and much more. As you initiate new marketing efforts, your project manager will review their effectiveness and give you suggestions for adjustments to help increase their effectiveness. This call will also have time for questions from you. When you schedule the meeting, you can let your project manager know of any topics you want to address, help you might need in any area, or questions that you have. This call is where information moves from numbers and data to actionable items that can impact your business.

One time Start-up Fee to begin Advantage Plan Level 3 $350

Included from Advantage Plan Level 2

Knowledge is Power! Education is the Key to that Power!

In today’s economy, small business owners MUST become more knowledgeable about their Internet presence to be able to formulate a strategic Internet marketing plan. Without that knowledge, marketing dollars are easily applied to programs that provide little or no benefit for bringing in customers.

Acorn Internet Services is committed to the education of our customer base. With the right information about the Internet marketing product services available, even the newest of Internet rookies can and will be able to grasp basic Internet concepts — learning the difference between organic/local placement and Pay Per Click placement, why a Web site tracker is so very important to your business, and what meta tags are, to name just a few.

With this basic knowledge comes the power to make the right decisions for your business and, in time, see your business thrive on the Internet superhighway.

Advantage Plan Level 2 Member Benefits: Acorn University

Printable Yearly Project Planner to keep you on track of your Ongoing Marketing

E-Mail Invitations to bi-monthly Acorn University and Club 60 Live Webinars

E-Mail Invitations to SEO Update Webinar

Access to Video Library of all past classes in Acorn University Curriculum and Club 60

E-Mail Invitations to monthly Q&A Webinars for Live Help and Support

Access to the Acorn U / Club 60 Q&A Forum / Chat Room

You will become a part of a group of Exclusive Innkeeper and Property owners who work together to support each other and share their knowledge.

If you decide to sell your inn, you will be listed on Acorn’s exclusive Inns for Sale page

Here at Acorn Internet Services, there is no such thing as a dumb question. We will work with you until you are able to grasp each important concept and use that knowledge to make the marketing decisions that will best benefit your business.

Bottom Line? The educated Innkeeper is equipped with the skills to INCREASE their REVENUE for less cost than the Innkeeper who unaware of their Basic Internet Marketing Environment.

Included from Advantage Plan Level 1

When you subscribe to one of Acorn’s Advantage Plan programs, you are paying to receive and have access to our continually updated Expertise and Knowledge so you can manage and grow your business without making costly and detrimental mistakes.

This information is provided in a variety ways:

Advantage Plan Email Alerts

Advantage Plan Webinars

Advantage Plan Private Blog Posts

Advantage Plan Survey Check-List and Step-by-Step instructions to keep current

Advantage Plan clients are eligible for special offerings such as yearly TripAdvisor Business Listing Reviews

You will also have access to Client Dashboard including:

Calendar with all Advantage Plan Communications Past and Present

Profile of your specific business so we can communicate specific issues as they occur

Private Access to Blog Posts with Step-by-Step Instructions on topics that Innkeepers need to address

In order to succeed in today’s marketplace, you MUST establish an ongoing strategy in order to maintain / grow your business. Innkeepers typically cannot create a plan such as this without expert guidance and direction. Hit and miss mistakes are costly. With our Advantage Plan Program, you will know what you need to do and how you need to do it.

Strategic Advantage Action Items currently include, but are not limited to the following:

Web Design Maintenance

As per Google’s Mobile-First Algorithm, a separate mobile website is no longer acceptable. Your website must have a Responsive Design so that it automatically responds or adjusts to the screen on which its viewed (phone, tablet or desktop). Your web design must also be quick to load and easy for your guests to use. All of our designs are built following these guidelines. Although these items are coded as part of your design, the additional work required to implement and maintain each of them is imperative to maintaining or growing your revenue.

Using Google Local to Grow Direct Traffic

2019 has shown a shift in how visitors find your website on Google. Using specialized UTM tracking for your Google My Business (GMB) website link, we have determined that 50% (+ or -) of your total Google traffic is not finding you through Google organic, but through Google Local. As a result, you must be taking steps to continually monitor your Google My Business listing.

Secure Server Verified

Having your website stored on a secure server (HTTPS://) is vital. If your site is not on a secure server (HTTP://), then Google’s Chrome browser will alert visitors to your site to beware that the site is unsecure. Once your website has been moved to HTTPS://, you will need to make sure all inbound links to the site have been updated to HTTPS://, such as Trip Advisor, Directories, etc.

Traditional Online Marketing Tasks

Just having a website is no longer enough to sustain or grow your business. Unless you are the only property in town, you MUST be completing additional marketing tasks, such as Blogging, Social Media and Newsletters for engagement with your existing and future guests.

All of the marketing techniques presented as part of our Advantage Plan Services are tried and true options. There are additional marketing options that some innkeepers are using and testing for validity. These include, but are not limited to Prospecting and Retargeting Products such as Cart Stack, Triptease, The Hotels Network and Loyalty Programs.

Review Management

Forbes has indicated that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. It is critical that Innkeepers constantly monitor and manage what is being said about them online.

Press and Print

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the “Online” marketing available for your business, that it’s easy to forget about the power of the Press and your Print materials. One well-published Press article can increase traffic to your site (and bookings) tremendously. Innkeepers should be aware of and capitalize on these opportunities as frequently as possible.

OTA and Revenue Management

In today’s competitive arena, it’s important to manage your room pricing. If you do not use an OTA, TripAdvisor’s TripConnect, or Google Hotel Ads provider, your pricing will NOT be available in Google My Business Local Business Listings, Google Travel, or TripAdvisor results. Although there are other ways to combat the lack of visibility, the first step is to realize that OTAs control much of the market today. Other players, such as the search engines, TripAdvisor, etc., all play off of paid availability. If you don’t participate, then you’re not visible in these places. If you’re in a competitive area, you must understand how this will impact your business, for better or for worse. Revenue/Yield Management is just another term for managing your Direct and/or OTA pricing so you’re not too high or too low, providing you with the best opportunity to sell your rooms. Keep in mind that companies such as Trivago prey on properties that don’t manage their Rate Parity properly.

Legal

In 2018 alone, new legal requirements have moved from “potential” to “real” with topics such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Innkeepers across the U.S. are experiencing lawsuits and other legal actions because they have not taken the precautionary steps to make sure their websites and Third Party systems comply with these rules and regulations for GDPR and ADA.

Is your property for Sale?

Selling your property is no simple task. There are many factors to consider and decisions to make. For starters, how will you list the property: by owner, with a Realtor, a broker or a consultant? Using our Level 3 or 4 Advantage Plan program will help you develop a specific strategy to increase your revenue in advance of your sale.

Marketing Ad-Ons (Al a Carte Marketing Options)

Acorn is very different when it comes to our client’s marketing. Where others may create a fixed check list of marketing items that they “box” for you to purchase — we do not. We work with each client to determine the right-fit marketing options for your property and budget.

Blog Posts:
Our professional writing team will craft original content posts for your blog, to correspond with events in your area, or any other topic you choose, as well as add appropriate photos for visual interest and add on-page SEO. ROI on blog posts is made available in the Acorn Dashboard for any clients where we do Blog Writing.

Social Media Posts: Our professional writers will add original posts to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, including links, hashtags if appropriate and relevant links, using the Buffer app program to streamline the process.

Pinterest Board:We will add pins to your existing Pinterest boards, making sure the content is relevant to your business and visually appealing.

Newsletters:We will customize your newsletter template to compliment the branding already in place on your website. We will organize your content, load it with supporting images and links, and schedule the distribution. ROI on newsletters is made available in the Acorn Dashboard for any clients where we write and ship Newsletters.

Email Blasts:More simplified email blast template will be created to complement the branding on your website, and contain either short snippets of info with quality images or one detailed topic, such as a special or package.

Campaigns:There are a variety of Paid Campaigns available to market your property. Acorn can assist you with Adwords, Google Hotel Ads, Promoted Ads and Display Ads.
We will periodically check to verify that you have good click through rates and ad positions, adjust your bids and review your ad content to support the best use of your monthly pay-per-click budget. The cost for a mini monthly Google AdWords review will vary depending on how many campaigns and keywords you have running.

YouTube Marketing:We will load your videos to YouTube with appropriate titles, descriptions, categories and settings, and disseminate the video to your social media platforms.

Review Management:GetFiveStars is a program which automates review gathering. After you are set up in the system and have a review gathering page on your site, we will monitor the reviews you are gathering and send out review requests on a regular basis.

Marketing Analysis:There are times when a client simply needs to talk to someone about their Marketing. We have a variety of team members that are available at our current consulting rates to meet with you via Go-To Meeting or phone, and help you brainstorm any Marketing issues or concerns you might have.

Blog Health Evaluation:
After the analysis has been completed, the customer may choose to have Acorn do the necessary work identified to update and re-publish posts, and/or delete and re-direct under-performing posts. This would be done at our standard hourly rates, and a bid would be provided for approval before any cleanup work is started.

Includes an analysis of your Inn’s blog covering the previous year’s blog page visitor traffic as documented by Google Analytics.